CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 353 km round trip from Socovos - roughly 6 h 58 in the saddle. The stops in between: Cueva de Jorge, Abrigo del mediodía I and back through Cueva de Jorge. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,150 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Zaén is a name that appears on maps of the Sierra de Segura and the Sierra del Taibilla as a small valley with a few farms, and the shelter here is one of the painted caves of the Albacete interior. The area, wild and thinly populated, lies between Letur, Socovos and Férez, in the country drained by the Mundo river. This is the Spain of the unfashionable inland, where roads are quiet, villages are small and the hills are covered with pine and juniper. The paintings belong to the Mediterranean-arc group UNESCO listed in 1998, and the nearby Letreros de los Mártires, mentioned in the ride titles, belongs to the same tradition.
Read the complete Abrigo de Zaén I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abrigo de Zaén I is where the day begins. Next is Cueva de Jorge.
The Segura river does something surprising near Calasparra. It runs between steep walls of limestone, pale and fissured, and in those walls people made their shelters long before anyone built a town. Cueva de Jorge is one of the painted sites in this stretch of the valley, and it forms part of the Levantine art listed by UNESCO. The cave is a small, rough opening high in the cliffs, and the paintings, in the usual red pigment, are modest but real.
Read the complete Cueva de Jorge write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cueva de Jorge comes up about 87 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abrigo del mediodía I.
North of Yecla, where the Murcia region meets Albacete, the land rises into a series of isolated limestone hills above a wide, dry plain of vineyards and almond groves. The rock shelters scattered through this country, including the Abrigo del Mediodía, are part of the UNESCO listing of Mediterranean Iberian rock art. The best known cluster is on Monte Arabí, a striking, isolated rock mountain north of the town, whose Cantos de la Visera shelters hold both Levantine and schematic paintings.
Read the complete Abrigo del mediodía I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 183 km into the recorded legs you reach Abrigo del mediodía I. Next is back through Cueva de Jorge.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cueva de Jorge write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Cueva de Jorge, late in the day. Next is Abrigo de Zaén I.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abrigo de Zaén I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Abrigo de Zaén I. That is the ride.
Abrigo de Zaén I → Cueva de Jorge is 87 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cueva de Jorge → Abrigo del mediodía I is 96 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Abrigo del mediodía I → back through Cueva de Jorge is 83 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Cueva de Jorge → Abrigo de Zaén I is 87 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.